SAO PAULO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian pulpmaker Suzano reported on Thursday a net loss of 729 million reais ($146.2 million) in the third quarter, but beating a LSEG analyst estimate of red ink reaching 1.5 billion reais during the three-month period.
The company's quarterly loss contrast with the net profit of 5.45 billion reais Suzano achieved in the year-ago period.
Sales of pulp, Suzano's main business, fell by 11% year-on-year, while average prices for the product dropped by a third to settle at $547 per metric ton.
Suzano said that despite the reduction in realized pulp prices, the July-to-September showed "improvement in market sentiment" largely due to more demand from China. ($1 = 4.9863 reais) (Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
